My son has allergic symptoms after swimming in a (bromine) pool?
Tuesday, October 01, 2002 Question: My son has asthma but it has never had an effect on his swimming. He has been swimming on the summer outdoor team for 8 years and did some indoor swimming several years back without incident. I recently enrolled him in an indoor session at a facility that uses bromine to sanitize the water. When he gets home from swimming within 8 hours,(this occurs in the middle of the night) he becomes tight and stuffed up as if he had a very bad cold. These symptoms last for two days and everytime he goes back to swim the cycle continues. Dr. Roby Answers: Well, stranger things have happened. However, I think it more likely that the pool that uses bromine is in a particularly moldy environment and it is this increased mold load that results in his middle of the night symptoms (see my section on mold allergy).
